By Greg Gaudio
NORFOLK
Patrick Kimidy never thought he'd spend his first night at college on a pillow-top mattress, resting his head on four fluffy down pillows. Nor did he expect a flat-screen TV, daily maid service and a panoramic view of the Elizabeth River.
"Waking up this morning, when I pulled these back, I was like, 'Ah, good morning,' " he said, parting the curtains in his sixth-floor room at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside.
Old Dominion University has rented 140 rooms in the hotel to house about 275 freshmen who don't have a place to stay on campus. Their Scotland House dormitory, which is under construction, should open next month, acting university President John R. Broderick said.
In the meantime, the students are relishing their plush digs - and making the most of having to ride buses to and from campus.
Kimidy and roommate William Kelley, graduates of Maury High School, eagerly rattled off the perks of hotel life last week.
The cushy queen-size beds are their favorite, but the soft lamp light and earth-tone walls don't go unappreciated. Neither do free Internet, central air and the myriad options on the shower nozzle.
"It beats on you," Kelley said. "I really like the massage."
Gym and pool facilities also are free.
"You can't complain with the girls by the pool," Kelley said.
"Is the pool open?" asked Kazem Naserkhaki, a friend from down the hall.
ODU's room blocks are co-ed and located on several of the hotel's floors. Except for resident assistants, some of whom managed to snag suites, students live two to a room.
The downside?
"We're really separated from campus life," Naserkhaki said.
Even though a full-size motor coach stops at ODU and the Sheraton every half hour between 7 a.m. and midnight, the inconvenience was enough for some students to skip orientation, they said. They're not looking forward to waking up earlier for classes, either, on account of the 20-minute commute.
The buses also make doing laundry and getting a midnight snack a bit tricky. Students have to get on board - dirty clothes and detergent in tow - to use the washers and dryers in ODU's Powhatan Apartments.
And they have to head to campus to eat on the meal plan, though $50 has been allocated for use at the hotel's restaurant.
They're not allowed to have microwaves in their hotel rooms, and mini-fridges and coffee makers have been removed. Appliances brought from home are stored elsewhere in the hotel.
Parking at the hotel is $5 per day.
"It kind of all equals out," Kimidy said.
"We've been complaining a lot, but it's really nice," said Kelsie Strawhand, a student who stopped by the guys' room. "We're thankful. They could've put us in a dump."
(Norfolk State University is housing 102 students in the Holiday Inn on Greenwich Road in Virginia Beach because of a general housing shortage, said Faith Fitzgerald, director of residence life and housing. They're expected to be back in campus housing by Saturday.)
Broderick said the university considered three or four options before deciding on the Sheraton.
"Of course it's more expensive, but by the same token, it's imperative that the students have a quality place to stay until the residence facility is open."
The dorm was supposed to be completed by Aug. 15, ODU spokeswoman Jennifer Mullen said, citing a contract between the university and contractor W.B. Meredith II.
Because that date was not met, the contractor will foot a $99,309 per week hotel and transportation bill, she said.
"A lot... has to do with weather and design problems," said W.B. Meredith superintendent Freddy Glaubke.
A room in the Sheraton typically costs $189 a night, sales and marketing director Barry Akers said. There haven't been any problems with the students, who occupy about 30 percent of the rooms in the hotel, he said.
"So far it's been great. They're good students. There've been no noise issues, nothing of that nature."
The university has said it will provide trucks to help students move when their dorm is ready. The $12.5 million Scotland House will be the third of six new residence halls to open in the campus's Quad area, ODU's Mullen said.
The first opened in 2006, the second in 2007, and the remaining three are scheduled to open next year.
Broderick said the expansion was launched to accommodate an increasing number of local students wishing to live on campus. He said there will be 4,500 beds on campus when Scotland House is complete, up from 2,200 less than five years ago.
Eighty-five percent of freshmen now live in university housing, he said, up from 75 percent last year.
"I think that's just a tremendous reflection on what the institution has to offer, that nearby students want to live here even though they may live close enough to drive," he said. "In our business, you don't gamble on the notion, 'If you build it, they will come.' "
Added Kimidy, "It beats living at home any day." The hotel and transportation bill for ODU each week. A contractor will be paying for it because it did not finish a new dorm project on schedule.
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This Is Amazing!
When I first went to ODU 15 years ago, there was no University Village, Virginia House, Ireland House, Scotland House, Nusbaum Apartments, or Inn. When I stayed in Mid-Rise Hall, (which was renamed Whitehurst Hall while I was staying there and is still named Whitehurst Hall to this day!)there were so few studens living on campus that all of the dorm rooms on the first floor were empty. I had a free single room for an entire semester! Now they are building so many new dorms and there is still not enough housing for all the students. ODU must have the greatest growth rate of any university in the state!
Why Downtown?
Why not use a hotel closer to campus?
The Spring Hill Suites is right on campus, next to the Constant Center & there are more on Hampton Blvd., north of Terminal Blvd.
goldfinch and rose
You have your opinions and may have "taken classes", but this situation is not that atypical, and no Rose, ODU won't end up paying for it. There's little doubt that this was a fixed price contract, not a cost plus, and the contractor will eat it. Will they most likely make a claim? Of course, and ODU will probably pay a very small percentage of that claim, but the bottom line is that the contractors did not deliver what they promised, ODU got put in a bind and forced the contractors to come up with the solution. As for it being done on time, well, we all have budgets, don't we? And ODU's budget allowed for the dorms to be built when they were, just as people like you and me budget our money and time when we buy a car, or buy groceries, or buy a house. The real reason that you posted was that you have to find things in the paper to complain about just for the sake of complaining.
Man!
When I was at JMU they put some freshmen in a HoJo's because of a similar issue, which is now closed and may have been demolished (haven't been back in a while). A Sheraton is pretty cool for the students, although I wouldn't wish college freshman on any poor, unassuming hotel. Hopefully these guys will treat the rooms better.
My bad
Yes, I should have read the article better. I take back my comment!
More to the story of the contractor paying.
When you read this statement from the article, "A lot... has to do with weather and design problems, said W.B. Meredith superintendent Freddy Glaubke." That tells me that there are "Delay and Disruption" issues due the design problems. When that happens, the cost of over-runs go back to either the designer or the customer, pending on who had the problem with the design. So saying that the contractor is paying could very well be a smoke-screen.
If the contractor wants to
If the contractor wants to pony up to put these students in the Sheraton, well so be it. Nice to hear of a contractor doing the right thing for a change. Would it be different if it was ODU paying for it? Maybe. Wish I'd had that kind of luck when I lived in the dorms at ODU 12 years ago! We lived 4 to a suite where I stayed. It was expensive to live on campus even then. I can only imagine what it must be now. The accomodations were adequate but nothing like the Sheraton, that's for sure! Enjoy your new dorms and best of luck to all the students!
Nice!
Well said, Mark. At first I was shaking my head when the article mentioned Sheraton Waterside. Then I read the contractor was paying for it. Heck, I think they should have been given top floors at the Marriott. Contractors have to find a way to get their projects completed on time. Dates are almost never met. Or if they are, there are still "little" things that need to be corrected for months on end.
Poor Planning on ODU's part
Having taken courses in Engineering Management that strongly focuses on scheduling, risk assessment, and managing the "Gantt Chart" so that the project is never delayed that ODU seems to have a habit of "having more students than rooms" because this has happened last year too. Oh, and let us not forget the mismanagement of the MAGLEV and the shortage of parking spaces. ODU may want to point the fingers elsewhere but they are the one responsible that approve the project activities schedule with very little margin for errors and delays which historically have always happened.
Living at home verses living on campus
There is a BIG difference between living at home verses living on campus. At home, there are typically more distractions than there are on campus. For many students, it is much easier to study on campus and stay locked into the college mode than what it would be living at home. Since these students ARE paying to live in the dorms, they aren't getting any financial free ride that way either. With the construction company picking up the tab for the hotel, it's not costing ODU anything more either.
"locals should NOT have ANY option for dorms."
They actually have a lottery system for dorms which takes into account things including GPA, school activities, and location relative to the school.
Please read the article carefully
The construction company is footing the bill for the rooms at the hotel, not the university. Those students from Maury paid for dorm space just the same as students from far away from the area. As such, they should receive the same accommodations as the other students who are to be housed in the new dorm.
ODU continues to prove that it gives every consideration for its students. I'm sure these students are happy that they are not in study lounges or in triples like many other universities do.
I agree Laura
I can appreciate ODU paying for rooms while a new dorm is being built, but for ODU to be paying for rooms at the Sheraton Waterside, one of the most expensive hotels in Norfolk...
But the real kicker here is that ODU is paying for rooms for 2 Maury HS grads whose parents probably live what, 10 minutes away? I'm sorry, but with a housing shortage at ODU, locals should NOT have ANY option for dorms.
This blows me away.
Hey Laura, the article said
Hey Laura, the article said the contractor was fitting the bill for not living up to the terms of the contract, not the Universityl. The contractor should be responsible for that because they didnt do what they said they would. Kudos to ODU for finding a nice, safe, somewhat close place for these students to live in the meantime. They've been inconvenienced due to the dorm not being done. Its the least they can do to put them in a nice, safe place. Wouldnt you want that if it was your child?
I can't believe
there isn't another, less expensive place to put these kids. What a waste.